Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Yes, I did say this house was move in ready. We would not need to do anything to it. Well...you know me (or maybe you don't) I can not leave well enough alone. I move in and start cruising through my many back issues of Home Companion, Natural Home, Dwell, just looking for paint colors. I am a painting fool. And a cheap one at that. I love the Oops cans at Home Depot. LOL

So here is what the kitchen looked like last week.

Well I have a love for a certain shade of red paint and the last time I bought it, it wasn't just right. It didn't matter we painted one of the walls in the old scatterville with it and it was ok. Well I had 1 gallon of it left in the old place and I knew if I used grey primer it wouldn't need more then two coats and the kitchen is small. So here it is, I learned how to spackle and repair plaster cracks in the walls and the results I think look great.

We've had an exciting week. Ok maybe busy is the right word. K and W went to garage sales on Saturday morning with me and we bought T a ton of pants for fall the kind you zip off to make shorts, his favorite. K bought two beautiful dresses to wear with her piggy bank money and some flip flops. She has been wearing them non stop even despite the fact that it's been over 100 here and one of the dresses is long sleeved. W perservered, and finally found a Kerplunk marble game. K found a big picnic basket and a straw hat.

R and I spent the weekend putting everything away. It felt great to have the kitchen organized and put away. Then we lugged the giant bookcase up to the house from the garage and one couch out to the garage. He joked maybe he should make a man cave out there. Marshmellow the cat is happy, he has a place to hang out. That took the entire afternoon unpacking all our books and magazines. Jeez we have a lot of them! The magazines got sorted and put back in boxes to store. Yes I keep back issues of my favorite magazines and as you can see above I actually look through them all the time for ideas for projects, paint colors, decorating, and craft ideas.

Then K came down at some point in the dragging the giant bookcase into the house and was quite upset. She said she had a mouse in her window. We looked up and found it was a bat! Excited we all ran up the stairs to check out the cutie that had wedged it's self between her screen which was not in the right place and the storm window which was raised. He/She spent the whole day there despite kids checking on it all day and window tapping. It flew off after dark. We love bats here, why? We have a TON of mosquitoes here and they eat them. 1,000's of them a night.

Finally the hot weather broke yesterday it was only 90 and the rest of the week it should be in the 80's. Along with this came thunderstorms and I got to check out the screened in porch and watch them come in. It's not the same as the old scatterville getting to watch the storms come across the field behind us but it was still good. I popped out again around 11pm last night with K who was having a tantrum and we got to see the lightning and bats flying back and forth across the street catching bugs in the street light glow.

Our next project? Turn the wood in the garage into a bat house and put it up on the big metal post in the yard!

Friday, July 21, 2006

W got his pond. As he drifted off to sleep last night he whispered to me, "Mama, thank you for digging my pond. This was a good day."

See we have been moving around a preformed pond liner for years, I mean YEARS! Over 9 of them. Once we had our first child we did not want to put it in because of safety reasons, but now that our youngest is an avid pond lover and building water features it was time to dig that hole.

It only took a few hours, and it wasn't too hot outside to do it. We placed it near the garage for electricity purposes and under a pine tree, not the best place but it looks so lovely tucked in there. (Post picture here when camera batteries are found!)

We had to clear a bunch of weeds to get to work and some of them were of coarse my favorite weed, POISON IVY! I am already suffering a rash from one I pulled a few days ago, so this time I used my shovel and just dug under all the plants and piled them up. Later when we move the yard cart I can just pile them in there.

The soil here was very dig friendly, especially under the pine, soft and somewhat sandy. We got the pond in and filled and rocks surrounding part of the edges just by using what we had on the land. We even found some little rocks on the side of the house to put in the bottom and the kids had fun throwing them in one by one and of coarse putting their feet in the pond.

We discussed once we bought a filter and fish, W wants some fish, we can not put our feet in. We are buying feeder goldfish, I figure those buggers are hard to kill from experience and super cheap so if they do die it's not a big budget cruncher!

We are leaving this morning to go back to the Old Scatterville, we will be working on the trim outside, and R on the electricity so the next time we go down we will be able to drywall. We are really not looking forward to going, no one is. Except for the opportunity to grab those items we didn't bring in the big truck like the toaster, alarm clock, bush trimmers, closet shelves etc. Also to pick from the garden, Tomatoes should be exploding since they just started turning red as we left two weeks ago, and the Zinnias were beautiful so we'll pick a bouquet of them also. It's got to be done though so it can be sold some time in the future!

Friday, June 30, 2006

She is having her last moments. Her legs decided not to work yesterday afternoon and R was gone on his tour. She is now barking and crying and can not get up on her legs. I helped her out the door this morning to go pee but R had to carry her back in because of my bad back, and she's near a 100 pounds.

R will be taking her to the vet to have her put to sleep when he wakes up today. And sad day in our house, we will miss her.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

This is the old scatterville, shortly after we started demo, although you can't tell from the front of the house.

This is what it looks like now. We are quite happy. I spent yesterday getting the roof area done on the scaffolding 20 ft up in the air and it's done on one side of the house. R spent the day replacing boards on the house where our side door used to be. The kitchen area is there now. I am scrapping and caulking today, hoping to get the whole side primed so I can finish either tonight or tomorrow. It is very hot. VERY hot. This is one of my many breaks to not keel over. R patched an area that used to be a window today and is off to town to look for nice shoes. He has a very important tour/meeting tomorrow with BIG shot people.

I haven't decided what to do tomorrow. It's either pack, which we haven't done yet and we close in 12 days. AH! or go into town and see if one of our friends can play. I think I am going to opt for cleaning/packing so I don't feel so much panic next week. Our week is already packed with parties (three of them), a moving truck on Saturday, 4th of July, and well I don't see much getting done in the packing area. OH and we have to return the scaffolding and get the other side done on Friday, Saturday so really I have to keep my nose to the grindstone.

I would much rather be in some airconditioning, reading a good book while my children blissfully play with new toys all day long. Instead I'm outside covered in dirt and probably lead paint in 90 degree temps with the sun beating down on me and occassional scream from inside the house of one child hurting the other.

I will post more pictures when I get new batteries for my camera. I just barely sqeaked out that one.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Here is what we have been working on. We removed all the old siding on the back of the house as all the windows and the sliding door are all new so there were holes in the siding from the old windows. We decided that it would look better to take them all down and rehang them so they were staggered correctly and use our new replacement boards. We got some of the work done Tuesday, getting it up to the windows where we need to make cuts with a jig saw we killed earlier in the year. This is the left side of the house above.And this is the right side of the sliding glass door.

R is working hard at getting the cuts just right to nail them into the studs. He's very good at this, I just guess he actually measures.The kids were very good at doing their own thing, they are always great at this, sometimes we need to step in when they start fighting but they come up with good things to do. W is sitting at the base of where we are working building shelters to make the house strong so tornadoes won't blow it over. Either that or nailing old nails into the dirt with a rock.K and T decided to do the smart thing since it was near 100 that day and swam for two hours in our pool which is set up just 10 feet from the wall we were working on. The occassional splash helped keep us cooled off.

We tried to work yesterday after spending the morning/afternoon in the city, but it was so hot! After dinner we decided to drive to the next small city and get a jigsaw to cut the house boards but as we were driving home the thunderstorms started all over again. I did manage to pull some nails out of the side of the house before the lightning scared me off.

R went into town this morning to go to some meetings, and pick up scaffolding to get to the top parts of the house. I was going to work on things outside, scraping, priming etc. but it is raining very hard right now. I guess I'll work on packing instead. I hate packing.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Our new house has a bathroom off the master bedroom. It is the tiniest bathroom ever and is in need of an upgrade at least in the sink. We hope to take part of the closet out which is across from the toilet and put in a shower if space permits. So here are some of the tiny sinks I've found to replace the ugly one we have. The bowl is too small and the faucet takes up to much room of the sink.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

I have a baby shower coming up this weekend, and well short on cash. Not short on fabric however so I am making three flap hats using this pattern for a Child's Reversible Flap Hat. I have used it before and have a few changes. Put a stiff stablizer in the brim and the top of the hat needs to be modified to not be so tall. Besides that it is a great pattern.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Here it is. R fell in love with it the moment he stepped in and while the kids and I were still dreaming of the farm house, I have to say this house was the most beautiful house we had seen yet. There is no way I could have said no. It does only have three bedrooms but we'll just have to bunk up kids until we can add one in the basement. The purple paint may have to go fairly quick but besides that there is nothing I would change except maybe adding a shower to the little tiny master bath.As you can see this is a very big two car garage. Can you say Ceramic studio? All my stuff that is in storage will go right in here and I'll I need is clay and I will be in business. The gardens surrounding it are gorgeous and the yard is very nice grass. There is even a concrete pad for the kids to ride scooters and bikes. We are debating making a second studio for R in the other side since he hope to only have one car, our lovely beater van. We don't need to garage keep it that is for sure!

What a great shot of the leaded glass windows in the dining room. There is a matching one in the entry way. It's just beautiful.

Oh and you really couldn't say no once we found this little play house deep in the greenery in the back yard. Surrounded by raspberries, daylilies, ferns and flowers of all kinds. It is also under the biggest lilac tree. My personal favorite. K is planning paint colors and an addition already. A bonus is we have six very small working windows with screens in our basement right now that were waiting for a playhouse to put them in.

The yard continues to have suprises that just bowl me over. I was morning the loss of our strawberry patch in our current home, but this one has an even bigger patch. It has a place for other veggies and fruits and is already planted. Bonus, there is no crab grass or wheat growing in it! There are two cherry trees full of fruit, a Hydranga bush, Clematis, and tons of my other favorite plants. I feel like I'll I will need to do is a little sprinking of my favorites that are missing around the yard and it will be complete. I was going to be many years before I felt that way about any of the previous gardens. There is even a lovely place to put W's pond behind the play house buried in the gardens.

This is the living room, lots of great light. Very large room for us and space to spread out. The kitchen has new cabinets in it, although not many. We may need to do some rearranging at some point to add more but for now it is very functional. The huge window over the sink looks out in the awesome back yard and opens out for great conversations with the people outside. (Ok for yelling, stop hitting your brother/sister type conversations) A huge bonus in my book and R's for that matter. It has a dishwasher. We have had to buy three dishwashers for the last three houses we have lived in. Finally we don't need to.

On the main floor there is also a nice size Master Bedroom with the tiniest bathroom I have ever seen. It is just large enough for a toliet and minature sink. You could over shoot that thing brushing your teeth. Next to it however is a walk in closet that we could go into and install a shower to make it complete. The closet would be very small then but currently the only shower is a 50's shower kit in the basement.

Upstairs there is a landing of about 10 by 8 that will perfect for the kids toys and tv room. On both sides of that are bedrooms, one for K and one for "the brothers". There is also a full bathroom that is a very nice size with lots of built in's and a bathtub with two huge windows over looking the back yard.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

We are leaving for the new Scatterville tomorrow and I have been dreaming and have the entire family excited about a farm with 4 bedrooms (one for each of us) and 10 acres. The kids are excited to have the space to play, K for the chance of having a horse and me the chance of having chickens and a huge garden. W for the chance of having a pig. Why? I don't know. But there are two barns and a garage on the property. We even talked R into looking at it first before the in town properties. He's excited about making a bike path around the property.

If that doesn't work out of us there are about three other properties we can look at in town. After thinking about renting we just really don't want to.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I have decided to pack up the craft supplies for the move. I haven't done it yet as I don't have any moving boxes or time but I've kinda just hung my hat up for now on crafting. I wish I could pack up my drywall tools, but we are not done with those. My dad did come up to visit and spent a day with R wiring the two bedrooms we have framed, and now we have electricity for those walls and the lights. I can now drywall but with money tight to pay for inspections, doctors bills and car repairs I'm not sure we can afford the drywall right now.

I hoped to post pictures of our bedroom progress but R took my camera cable up to the new house today for inspections.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

This is a new home I found out in the country. It is 4 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath, remodeled already, 2 car garage, barn, garden and fenced yard and 5 acres. I love living out in the country. I love the solitude, the quiet, the nature, the freedom to let the kids wander around and not worry about people taking them. I love the thought of my kids going naked in the summer and I won't have to worry about the neighbors and what they think. I have always wanted to live in the country.

I want to have chickens, sheep, goats, maybe a horse for K. I want to have a huge garden and live that kind of life. My love is not that way. He is a city boy. He wants to walk to work, and live in the whole jungle of life. I would prefer to hide from it.

My disappointing discovery this morning was I thought I might be able to live in the city if there was a big yard, and I could have chickens. That was shot down. They have city ordinances where fowl can not be kept closer then 150 feet from any dwelling. The yards there are only 150 feet so I don't think I will ever get my chickens. This was very sad to me. Not to my love. He just laughed and said he'd buy me some land and I could have chickens in 10 years when we build on it.

Monday, May 08, 2006

This is it. There are only about 9 homes in our price range in the new scatterville, and this is by far my favorite. It has four bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a basement, attic, and sun porch. It also has a new two car garage perfect for a ceramic studio and it looks like a nice yard. It is the college part of town, but we've lived there before. The wood works look wonderful and I hope that it looks as good in person as it does on the internet. They never do though.

The kids swiped the batteries from my camera to use in the Game boy so there are no pictures of the walls today, but I give you a one room building on the way to town we came across going wandering down dirt roads. One of my favorite past times. There are Turkey Vultures roosting on the chimney.

One of the things people ask me when I announce we are moving is what do the kids think. I really have to answer that they are quite excited to find a new house, one that has a bedroom for each of them. We have lived in such a way for the last year that they don't even have a space to go when they want to be alone and they are all looking forward to that.

We have not heard back from my dad yet, but he is planning on coming down next week to help us finish the electricity in this house. We are going to be working on this house in a fevered pitch for the end of May. We framed one bedroom yesterday and hopefully will get the other one framed tomorrow. These are the last walls we need to build. There is not to much in the grand scheme of things left to do. Replace 5 windows and decide what to do with the outside, siding or painting. It is still a ton of work.

We look forward to visiting our new "Scatterville" some time next week also to look for a new house. We hope to find a four bedroom with two toilets. Although if we need to put in a new one, we have totally been there and done that.